Iran

13 June 2020; MEMO: Iran called on Friday for South Korea to release billions of dollars in funds frozen because of US sanctions, Reuters reports.

“South Korea’s ban on Iran’s use of its central bank resources to buy basic goods, medicine and humanitarian items is in no way acceptable, and we expect the South Korean government to lift this restriction as soon as possible,” President Hassan Rouhani said, in remarks carried by state news agency IRNA.

TEHRAN, June 13 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry, on Friday, dismissed the recent UN report about Tehran’s “involvement” in the missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities last year.

On Thursday, Western media said that UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, told the UN Security Council in a recent report that, the cruise missiles and drones used in attacks on Saudi oil facilities in 2019, were of “Iranian origin.”

TEHRAN, June 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 180,000 people have been infected in Iran’s coronavirus outbreak since it first emerged nearly four months ago, an official said.

As the figures were announced, President Hassan Rouhani called on Iranians to stick to guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

“If everyone follows the health instructions exactly, then all jobs can be reopened,” he said in remarks broadcast on state television.

09 June 2020; MEMO: Iran yesterday rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to renegotiate a better nuclear deal, describing the offer as “nothing but political showboating”, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

“The U.S. government knows what to do to achieve any successful diplomacy with Iran,” Ali Rabiei, spokesman for Iran’s government, said in a televised news conference. “They have to rebuild everything they have destroyed unilaterally.”

09 June 2020; MEMO: Iranian scientist Majid Taheri has returned home following his release from the US, where he was imprisoned for more than 16 months.

Taheri, who was a long-time Florida resident, was jailed after allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran; he has denied all charges, according to PressTV.

08 June 2020; MEMO: According to the semi-official Iranian news agency, Young Journalists Club, former Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, intends to run in the next presidential elections for 2021. The conservative Ahmadinejad who was held the post between 2005 and 2013 is hoping to have a third term in office, however presidential candidates must first gain the approval of the powerful Guardian Council of the Constitution.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian doctor based in Florida returned to his homeland Monday after being part of a swap that saw a U.S. Navy veteran held by Iran return to America.

The semiofficial Fars news agency published an image of Matteo Taerri being greeted at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport by Foreign Ministry officials and his family. The agency and state television identified Taerri by his Persian name, Majid.

BAGHDAD, June 6 (NNN-NINA) – Iraq signed a two-year contract to extend the import of electricity from neighbouring Iran, the Ministry of Electricity said, Friday.

According to the agreement, Iraq will continue to import electricity from Iran, for the remaining period of 2020 and 2021, said Ahmed al-Abadi, the ministry’s spokesman, in a statement.

Earlier, Iranian Minister of Energy, Reza Ardakanian, said, an Iranian delegation signed, on Wednesday, in Baghdad, an agreement with Iraqi Electricity Ministry, to extend exporting electricity to Iraq.

04 June 2020; MEMO: Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, said the United States has trained and equipped “terrorist elements” in neighbouring countries to attack the Islamic Republic and destabilise it.

TEHRAN, June 3 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, on Tuesday, urged the European Union to stand against U.S. “illegal” sanctions against the Islamic republic, Press TV reported.

Washington violated international regulations by increasing sanctions against Iran, he said.

“Under the ongoing circumstances, the European Union, particularly Finland, should carry out its duty by condemning the illegal measures of the United States,” Rouhani was quoted as saying.